1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns the area of toy guns and, more specifically, a gun-like device that shoots substantially flat disks of the type that children collect and use to play games.
2. Description of Related Art
Much of children's play is actually made in imitation of adult activities and helps children learn to be adults. Favorite items of play are toy replicas of adult possessions, especially various tools that adults use in work and play. For example, cars, trucks, and other vehicles are favorite toy items, since adults spend so much time with these machines. In television programs and motion pictures and, to a lesser extent in real life, adults make extensive use of assorted weapons, especially guns. Therefore, toy guns and other weapons are highly favored as toys.
Because toys frequently emulate adult items, many toy guns closely imitate the features of real guns. Cap guns use a small charge of gun powder to produce both the sound and the smoke of real weapons. Other toy guns shoot some type of projectile. Play with these projectile-shooting toys is more exciting as the toys are actually capable of "shooting" something and games of marksmanship, etc. are possible.
Many projectile-shooting toy guns use pellets, darts, or similar projectiles. Because safety has become an increasingly important concern with toys, significant efforts have been expended to ensure that projectiles fired from toys do not injure an eye or cause similar physical damage. Generally, this means that the speed of the expelled projectiles should be kept low and that the projectiles be made of soft material and/or be generally too large to readily strike a child's eye (if the projectile is of sufficient diameter, the eye socket and the cheek bone will prevent the object from entering the eye).
There is often a conflict between safety and features that most children desire. Generally, the farther a projectile travels after being shot from a toy gun, the more children will enjoy the results. But safety demands often limit the speed with which projectiles leave the toys, limiting the distance the projectiles will travel.
One type of "safe" toy gun fires suction cup-tipped darts that are capable of sticking to a wall or target. Other toys avoid safety concerns by firing water rather than a solid projectile. Some toy guns shoot disk or ring-shaped projectiles. Generally disk-shaped projectiles can be made to travel at a relatively slow speed. This would tend to limit their distance of travel. However, if disk-shaped projectiles are given a rapid spinning motion as they leave a toy gun, they will tend to fly like a FRISBEE.TM. (disk-shaped "flying saucer" toy) and, hence, travel a considerable distance. Furthermore, disks are devoid of sharp points and can be made of a soft material and/or of a sufficiently large diameter to prevent direct entry into a child's eye.
Some disk-firing guns have been developed to propel spinning disks in a vertical orientation. Typical of this type is the disk gun disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,824 to Profitt. In this device vertically oriented rings or disks are fed into a chamber from a spring-loaded magazine. A trigger-activated spring propels the disk from the barrel of the device, imparting a spin at the same time. The spin probably provides gyroscopic stabilization to the flying disk; however, spinning disks tend to fly farther, if oriented in a horizontal plane.
A toy gun that fires horizontally-oriented disks from a magazine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,458,828 to Boese. However, this device does not impart a spin to the projectiles. Instead, it uses rather small disks that might constitute a safety hazard. U.S. Pat. No. 2,019,894 to Clauss uses larger disks that are given a spin to ensure significant periods of flight. The disks in this device are intended as advertisements and so bear attractive graphics. However, this device spins the disks by engaging the disk with a projecting member inserted through an eyelet in the disk. The eyelets tend to mar the overall appearance of the disks and complicate their manufacture. The device requires hand-loading of each disk possibly because the need to orient the disks so that they will be engaged by the projecting member complicates the construction of an auto-feeding magazine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,515,114 to Carbonneau discloses a disk-firing toy gun in which the projectile disks are automatically fed into a firing position from a spring-loaded magazine integral with a lower portion of the gun. In the firing position, the disk can be expelled from the gun by being struck off center by a spring-driven plunger. The plunger propels the disk down a barrel which contains a guideway to keep the disk oriented horizontally. Because the plunger strikes the disk off center, a considerable spin is imparted to the disk, thus ensuring that the disk will fly a maximal distance after leaving the barrel.
This type of disk gun suffers from difficult disk loading since the integral magazine must be loaded by inserting the disks one at a time through a slot in the side of the gun. Also, since the magazine is integral to the gun, it is not possible to have preloaded magazines available to exchange for an emptied magazine. The guideways in the barrel of the gun also limit the gun to firing disks of a particular thickness; thicker disks will, of course, jam in the barrel.
Children also like to collect objects and to play games in which they show off their collections and possibly win additional items for the collection. The classic game of marbles operates in this manner. The children make collections of different marbles and then play a game in which they may win marbles from the other players. Baseball trading cards are another extremely popular collectible. Baseball cards take advantage of the popularity of sports heroes and their teams. The cards show players and team logos. Children collect and trade these cards, but there is not really a universal game played with the cards. Other types of trading cards that show other sports figures or even fictional heroes are also quite popular.
Recently, a new type of collectible with some of the properties of both trading cards and marbles has appeared. Paper or plastic disks with various insignias or logos are collected. In addition, a game is played in which a special heavier disk often called a "slammer" is launched into a pile of the regular disks. Depending on how the disks land after being scattered the owner of the slammer may also win some or all of the disks.
The popularity of the collectable disks is already spreading across the country. If other play uses for the disks could be developed, their overall popularity would be augmented. One possibility is a toy gun that is capable of shooting the disks. Thus, children could play target and other games with their disk collections. If the gun could also accommodate the thicker and heavier "slammers," then the classic disk game could also be played by shooting a slammer into the pile of disks. Since the insignia on the disks are central to their collectability, it would also be highly desirable if the disk gun were constructed in such a way that the insignia on each disk could be readily determined before the disk was shot from the gun.